Bulgaria is situated in Southeast Europe and occupies the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. To the north it borders on Romania, to the west on the Republic of Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to the east on the Black Sea, to the south on Greece and to the southeast on Turkey's European part.
Area: 111.000 sq km.

Relief
Extremely varied: large plains and lowlands, low and high mountains, valleys and lovely gorges.

Climate
Temperate continental with clearly marked four seasons.
A Mediterranean influence is felt in the country's southern regions.
The average annual temperature is 10.5°C.
The average January temperature is around O°C.
Average summer temperatures rarely exceed 30°C.

Population
8,428,006

Language
Bulgarian.
English, German, French and Russian is spoken in the country's resorts, hotels and restaurants.

Alphabet
Cyrillic. Signs along international motorways, in airports and resorts are also spelled in Roman letters.

Religion
86.6% of the population is Eastern Orthodox, 13% are Muslims. The Bulgarian Church is autonomous and headed by a Patriarch.

State government
Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic.

Official holidays
January 1 - New Year
March 3 - Bulgaria's Liberation from Ottoman rule - the National Day
Easter - one week after the Catholic Easter
May 1 - Labour Day
May 6 - Bulgarian Army Day
May 24 - Day of Bulgarian Enlightenment and Culture and the Slav Script
September 6 - Bulgaria's Unification
September 22 - Independance Day
December 25-26 - Christmas

Capital
Sofia (pop. 1,141,000)

Large Cities
Plovdiv, Varna, Veliko Turnovo